


Bad Things Always Seem To Happen To People Who Are Alone In A Forest At Night

by Dovahkiin



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Is it a monster?, an alien?, hell even i don't know
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-11-18
Updated: 2013-11-26
Packaged: 2018-01-02 00:37:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,608
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1050452
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dovahkiin/pseuds/Dovahkiin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Darcy Lewis likes her nightly jogs.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> We had to do some creative writing at school to deal with "Senses", and this is what I came up with.

Darcy hummed quietly along with the music that was pumping through her headphones as she jogged along the forest path. Her breaths sent clouds of mist swirling into the cold night air, and her feet kept in time with the rhythm of the song. The path was long, narrow, and winding, shadowed by tall trees blocking out the light of the full moon. Darcy’s feet crunched on dry autumn leaves that were only just beginning to fall from the trees. This and her breathing were the only sounds that echoed in the silence. No wind stirring up leaves, no snufflings of animals in the undergrowth, not even the sound of a car on a distant road. This is what Darcy liked most about her nightly jogs. The peace, the quiet, a place to get away from the teeming masses in town. Here she could just _be_ , just her body moving to the music.

As the song ended a new one started up, slower and quieter than the first. Beneath her feet the ground began to slope downwards following the path of a long since dried up stream. Pebbles shifted underfoot and Darcy slowed, and kept moving at a walking pace. Here the trees were not so close together, and dappled moonlight shone through the gaps in the canopy. Darcy breathed deeply and sighed, coming to a stop in the middle of the stream. The air smelt earthy, and rain was likely on the way. A beep in her ear told her that her iPod battery just died, and she rolled her eyes as she folded it away and placed it into her back pocket. _Typical. Trust it to only last an hour._  
She turned around, ready to start jogging again, when something jumped out onto the path, causing Darcy to jump out of her skin. That something was a deer. Its fearful cries cut the air, feet skittering against the stones as it leapt away, eyes round with terror. Darcy watched it dart away, disappearing into the dark. She breathed a sigh of relief. _Poor thing. I must have startled it._

Something heavy sliding and clinking against stones behind her made Darcy’s blood run cold. A hissing noise, like gas escaping, echoed in the silence. She steeled herself, and then slowly turned around. What she saw made her scrabble backwards, her feet slipping on the ground and she fell, her hands coming out to brace herself. Jagged stones jabbed into her palms, but she didn't care much for that. An enormous snake uncoiled itself, lifting its emerald plated head. It loomed over her, smelling of must and decay. It hissed again, displaying sharp, elongated fangs in a dark red maw. It had brilliant, gleaming yellow eyes, like the sun. But they felt so very, very cold.


	2. Chapter 2

"Oh, shit."

The scaled beast lifted its head and a forked tongue flickered out, tasting the air. It's long body expanded and contacted in time with its breathing.

Darcy slowly rose to her feet, the enormous reptile watching her intensely with those cold eyes. Its mouth widened by a fraction. Her senses suddenly kicked in and she leapt to the side, just as the creature lunged forwards, jaw unhinged and fangs flashing.

Darcy didn't turn to look as she scrambled to her feet, and started running in the opposite direction. She weaved through the trees, and something splashed near her feet. She jumped over what appeared to be a puddle of acid, as it sizzled and ate through the base of a tree trunk. 

"Sure, as if a giant snake wasn't bad enough. Oh, no. It has to spit fucking acid!"

She could hear the crashing the tree made as it toppled over, breaking off branches from other trees and ripping off bark. A thud vibrating underneath her feet told her that it had met the ground. The undulating rustling and dragging of a heavy, scaly body as it moved over rocks, branches and leaves chilled her to the bone, and she could hear the scraping of scales as the snake slid over the fallen tree. She kept running until she couldn't hear that horrible sound any more.

"Oh for gods' sake."

Darcy slid behind a tree and pulled her phone out of her other back pocket, tapping in Jane's number, entering it at least three times before finally getting it right.

"Come on, come on! Pick up!"

No one was answering.

"Now is not the time to be doin-the-do with Thor!"

"Hello?"

"Jane, it's like the fuckin' Chamber of Secrets over here!"

"What?"

"I was just having a little girl time with nature y'know-"

"Darcy."

"And all of a sudden this fucking ginormous snake comes out of nowhere-"

"Whoa, slow down!"

"I don't have time to slow down! Get me outta here!"

"Where are you?"

"Uhhhh, Forest Lane, Leafyville?"

"What?"

"I'm in the middle of a fucking forest, Jane! They don't really have street signs over here!"

"Ok, I'm coming to find you." There was a slight pause, and then,  
"Thor says he's coming too."

"Jane," Darcy whispered, "Please hurry."

It was quiet on the other end.

"Don't worry, we'll be there soon. I promise."


	3. Chapter 3

Darcy put her phone back into her pocket and peeked around the tree that she was hiding behind. She couldn't see anything in the darkness, and there was complete and utter silence. She used to love the quiet here, but now she hated it. There was no sound of life at all, and it made her skin crawl. She calmed her breathing. Jane and Thor were coming. It was going to be okay. Darcy was tempted to stay put, but she decided to keep moving to find a clearing of trees or something of the sorts in case Thor flew overhead. She winced as each step made a crunching sound from the dead leaves and twigs littering the ground. The deeper she went into the forest the more nervous she became. The trees melded from leafy, long branches that let in moonlight to thick, close standing pines. Her footsteps were quiet on the carpet of pine needles. So she nearly screamed when something cracked under her foot, echoing in the silence. She stood frozen, waiting. When nothing leapt out at her she moved her foot and looked down. She covered her mouth with her hands as she saw the little bone, shattered into sharp pieces. Peering ahead, she could make out many more bones littering the ground. No wonder it was so quiet here; everything had either been eaten or had fled. 

She wanted to turn back, but she had no idea which way was out. She moved forwards for a few minutes, and then paused at the edge of a clearing. Moonlight shone down upon a huge cluster of enormous boulders that formed some sort of cave. Bones littered the ground, forming a macabre carpet.

"Of course, I get to find Mr Monster's Deep, Dark Cave of Doom."

At least it was a clearing, despite the obvious danger. Giant or not, a snake still needs sunshine. She jumped as a clap of thunder cracked the air, and dark clouds rolled in across the sky. It began to rain almost instantly, drenching Darcy in a matter of seconds. A flash of red in the sky caught her attention and she waved her hands in the air, hoping that Thor would see her. He did, bracing himself as he landed. Cape fluttering the the wind, he hugged her tightly. Darcy heaved a sigh of relief.

"Lady Darcy. You are well?"

"Yeah, yeah. Just a little bit freaked out is all."

"Where is this creature that Jane told me about?"

"I don't know, I haven't s-"

A horrible hiss interrupted her, and Darcy she could feel the warmth of the monster's breath on the back of her neck and smell the stench of rotting meat. Thor stepped in front of the monster, pushing Darcy behind him. The cold yellow eyes of the enormous snake narrowed at the movement.

"What an extraordinary creature!" Thor exclaimed as the snake lunged at him.

"Time for admiring Mr Beasty later, Thor!" Darcy's feet kept slipping on the wet and muddy ground, and she had watch where she placed her feet to try and avoid tripping on bones. Some of them seemed uncomfortably large; almost _human_.

"Oooop, yep. That's a foot. A human foot. That's just- great."

There was a thud, probably Thor's hammer doing its work. Darcy looked down as a long fang bounced to a stop at her feet. She bent down, water running into her eyes from the rain as she picked up the bloodied fang.

"Where's the diary?" she said sarcastically.

The snake hissed in agony as another blow from Thor's hammer broke off its scales, falling to the ground in an emerald wave. One bounced off Darcy's head. She picked it up. It was caked in mud, but she put in her jacket pocket. Cleanliness wasn't really important to her at the moment. Clutching the fang tightly, she shouted over the roar of the wind and cracking of thunder.

"Thor! It's time to go! Shield can deal with it!"

The snake was retreating, coiling around and slithering as fast as it could in the opposite direction. Thor let it go.

"Jane is waiting for us. We will see her soon."

He started swinging his hammer in a circular motion above his head and Darcy held on to him tightly, one hand still clenched around the long fang. He launched the both of them into the air, the red of his cape starkly contrasting to the deep grey skies.


End file.
